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October 27

Happy 5th Anniversary to NS2! Five years ago… Wow saying that makes me sit back in my chair a moment. It’s crazy to think that much time has passed, it seems like only yesterday we launched. So much happened to make the game become a reality even before release on Steam and even more has happened since.

We wanted to do something special for the Anniversary patch beyond just celebrating and we think we have done just that for Update 319. To say this update includes a lot of under the hood work would be an understatement. In fact, Update 319 includes changes to over 80,000 lines of code. Ghoul has been working for some time on making as much of the game code able to use LuaJIT as possible. Taking advantage of this function allows for the code to run faster and create a smoother experience for the user. These changes will not necessarily add additional FPS, what it does do is help diminish the disparity between what your FPS shows and how it feels.

Additionally, Update 319 includes some changes to two of our official maps. Summit has had some changes made throughout the map to give additional coverage areas and allow for more interesting engagements between Marines and Aliens. A lot of you may already be familiar with these changes, they are part of PsYk’s Summit_andabove mod. Seeing how the map was playing on public servers and testing it ourselves, we really enjoyed the changes and decided to merge them into the game. PsYk has also provided us with an update to Derelict. This update is mainly a performance pass throughout the map, fixing some long sight-line issues and changing a lot of lighting throughout the map. We hope that all of you will enjoy these changes as much as we do.

As previously stated in our last blog post, Update 319 marks the “End of Support” for our 32-bit client and server. While we are sad to do this, we are also thrilled to now be on 64-bit. Upgrades like this will allow us to continue more advanced updates to the game and content within the game moving forward. In fact, some of that new content is available now on STEAM!

Clutch your weapon tight for warmth, the Nocturne skins will chill your enemies to the bone!Click here to view on Steam!(Thanks to Ieptbarakat for the name, Nocturne!)

Finally, we have felt for some time that the flamethrower still just didn’t feel right. An expensive upgrade weapon that just doesn’t seem to have much effect on anything, in essence it just didn’t feel like a flamethrower. The changes included in this update definitely make it a more viable weapon choice for groups on assault and we look forward to seeing how the community uses them.

From everyone at Unknown Worlds, thank you for a great five years! Now, go and dominate the other team while we get back to work ;)

Update 319 Changelog

Gameplay

Flamethrower

The following changes aim to make the flamethrower a still unique but efficient primary weapon. To be considered worthwhile a primary weapon has to offer a decent amount of power in PvP (Player vs Player) engagements. That’s why most of the changes focus on increasing the damage in PvP engagements. The unique characteristic of the Flamethrower is kept by dealing mostly conditional damage with the focus on supporting other players and taking down alien structures:

The flamethrower now only hits the first target in line of fire but deals Area of Effect (AOE) damage:

Any enemy inside a small range (2 meters) of the target will be hit as well.

Every target hit receives 10 (was 8) damage and gets set on fire.

A flame puddle is created below the first target.

The flamethrower deals now light damage to players, so armor will cover more damage.

The conditional damage of the flamethrower has been increased:

Flame puddles deal 27 (was 12.8) damage per second (dps) but each puddle only lasts 3.1 seconds (instead of 5.6)

Enemies take 5 dps (was 3) while being set on fire but each hit only sets targets for 3.1 seconds on fire (instead 6)

The flamethrower now hits targets more consistently:

Increased the fire cone width to 0.3 (from 0.17)

Flame puddles now deal damage 3 times a second to enemies in range (instead of 1.6 times)

Decreased the amount of energy the flamethrower removes from a target to 1 (from 3) per hit.

The flamethrower no longer removes applied enzyme effects from a target on hit

The flamethrower still can destroy enzyme clouds (including spores and umbra clouds)

Increased the cost of the flamethrower to 15 (from 12) personal resources

Hive

Added a biomass 4 research

Costs 60 team resources and takes 60 seconds to research.

A very efficient strategy for Marines right now is to rush the from the Alien start nearest tech points and lock them down. Blocking Aliens from getting a second Hive forces them to regain control over those tech point or get out-teched pretty quickly. The Biomass 4 research offers Aliens the opportunity to compensate the lack of control over tech points through their economy. Allowing them to get access to much needed abilities to fight back Marines. Locking down tech points will still be a strong strategy for Marines as you deny Aliens a upgrade path and spawn tickets that way. However it’’s not enough to focus solely on locking down the tech points anymore.

Contamination

Now Requires Biomass 10

Moved Contamination so it isn’t possible to unlock it immediately with the third hive utilizing the new biomass 4 tech. Marines still have time to take down the new third hive before they have to tackle contamination getting dropped in their base.

Can now be set on fire and doesn’t spew bile while on fire

This allows marines to stop contamination from destroying structures, ARCs and Exos on it’s own. The design goal for having contamination spew bile is to shorten the time it takes Aliens to destroy the last Marine base when they have map dominance. However Aliens started rushing Contamination to quickly win the game. This is especially frustrating for Marines on maps with 5 tech points where they may hold 2 tech points but the round just ends shortly after biomass 9 has been reached no matter how hard they fight back. We will monitor the effect of this change closely and are willing to revert/change it to make sure the frustrating end game siege / turtle situation does not return.

Observatory

Fixed that enemies could avoid getting detected by staying out of range by just flying over the observatory in high rooms. The observatory will now detect an enemy regardless of their height. (Contributed by Nin)

Tweaks / Improvements

Removed all x86 (32-bit) specific binaries. Support for 32-bit systems has ended.

Optimized game code for LuaJIT

Optimized most world update runtimes. So the game runs slightly faster on average.

Decreased input delays.

Stabilized frame times, so the game feels smoother.

Rewrote the cyst chain logic (Contributed by Katzenfleisch)

Placing a cyst will now create a optimal cyst chain utilizing existing cysts instead of creating new cysts close to them (saving team ressources).

Optimized the cyst chain routine to run faster and not cause fps spikes.

Fixed that the client and server logic generate different cyst chains.

Fixed that you couldn’t place cysts at various map locations or that they were not connected correctly.

Improved the shaders linear srgb transformation methods using a more precise and faster approximation (Contributed by Nin)

Improved the memory management of the soundsystem (FMOD) by adding a static memory pool. This improves how long it takes to load a sound on average and avoids possible memory leaks.

Fixes

Reintroduced an updated version of Intel’s TBB library for the job parallelization due to implementation issues of C++11’s atomics in vc++13 causing significant memory leaks over time. The version of TBB used still provides the core-spreading and multithreading benefits introduced with Update 318.

Fixed issue with Engine’s memory allocators being unable to access all available system memory for clients and servers. This increases the amount of memory it can allocate but does not mean it will.

Fixed PhysX not initialized correct which generated an errors on startup and shutdown

Fixed issue with FMOD libraries not being linked correctly for Linux clients

Fixed two memory leaks in physics layer of the engine.

Fixed that the position the commander clicked didn’t match where the structure ends up being dropped (Contributed by Katzenfleisch)

Fixed that spectator slot clients used player slots after a map change causing the server to end up with negative player numbers after they disconnect.

Fixed issue where returning to ready room while waiting to respawn would sometimes cause the player to be stuck in 3rd person view.

Fixed issue where changing skins in the customization menu wouldn't always immediately apply to the weapon you were holding.

Maps

Special thank you to pSyK (the original author of Summit) for doing all the updates to these two maps

Summit

Minor visual improvements

Fixed stuck spots

Added more cover and los-blockers around the map,

especially Flight Control, Sub Access, Crossroads, Crevice, Atrium

Added half closed doors around Computer Lab area for more cover/ambush spots

You can move faster into Ventilation coming from Data Core through that pipe-gap (Thanks Mephilles!)

Added more starting-cysts around Harvester, so Marines need more time to harass it

Made corridor between Crossroads and Summit Reception more alien friendly

Turned some railings in Crevice and Ventilation into railings with cover

Fixed hidden cysts exploit in Crevice

Added more cover to Flight Control entrance from Computer Lab

Gorges can now place a tunnel in the north-west corner of Flight Control

Created more space behind resnode in Atrium, more dodging space for skulks, gorge tunnel possible

Adjusted pipes in Reactor Core, easier navigation around them and dodging of marine bullets

Added more cover geometry/spots to Crossroads, which can be used to dodge marine fire or approach easier.

Added another little alcove in Atrium for upgrade structures, cover or a gorge tunnel

Fixed Arcs being able to hit some spots in Atrium from Glass Hallway / Crossroads (Thanks ydy)

Derelict

Improved/Fixed Occlusion Geo

Added some rocks and more Occlusion Geo to Glass Hallway / Biome area to improve performance

Removed many lights from the low light quality option

Made the map slightly brighter, if you use low quality light option

Removed "inefficient" props in the map to reduce primitives count

Removed a lot more ceiling geo and props from commander view, especially around Administration.

Added two more pillars and another Truck into Garage

Added more sand rocks into Geothermal to cover the hive

Added more view-blocking tarp in Western Entrance

Covered one of the windows in Plaza with moss, added a 3rd row of pipes, and scaled up the crate in the middle of Plaza to block view for better ambushing and to improve performance

Modified pathing mesh, so you can cyst across the broken bridge in Plaza

Added more obstacles in Nursery, created space for lifeforms between the vines and carousels

Widened vent from Garage to Alley; removed connection to Administration

Added vent from Biome/Lookout to Plaza

Added vent from Plaza to Administration/Overlook

Added a second vent exit in Turbine

Added vent from Atmospheric/Botany to Biome

Replaced some glass pipes with solid ones in Glass Hallway, so aliens can hide on top

Improved Infested Corridor for aliens

Slightly moved the hanging grating tile blocking the glass hole in Geothermal, so aliens can move around on all sides

Slightly decreased the size of the pipes above Geothermal

Added a broken pipe section in Geothermal to make it harder for bile bombing gorges to hide

Adjusted surrounding rocks in Geothermal so players can get up on the pipes via the rocks, too

Known Issues

The game client still leaks memory which may cause crashes on long runs. We will be continuing our efforts on reducing memory usage and addressing leaks with future updates.

We strongly recommend running in DX9 Fullscreen only for the time being, without any 3rd party overlays such as MSI afterburner, Razer Synapse etc.

SDK

Fixed the build_setup.xml so that builder converts texture files again.

Replaced nvcompress with another version so the output contains less artifacts and you can convert textures without a resolution of power 2. The engine still requires textures dimensions that are multiples of 4.

October 6

Release the KRAKEN! Wait?!?! Wrong mythology reference, this is NS2, not Clash of the Titans.

After months of back end work, we are pleased to be releasing the NS2 64-bit Beta to the public. Those of you already using a 64-bit Operating System will automatically start the application in 64-bit. If you are currently running a version of Windows or Linux in 32-bit, you can still launch the game but you will be notified of our impending end of support for all 32-bit users. Once support has ended for 32-bit you will no longer be able to launch NS2 unless you upgrade your Operating System to a 64-bit version. We have been working on and communicating this impending change to players over the last year, and hope that those of you that are not using a 64-bit OS recognize that as an actively developed game, we strive to keep building and improving NS2. Supporting all of this on a system that can barely manage 3.5GB of system memory sadly is just no longer feasible.

A note to our non QWERTY keyboard layout users: We’ve fixed a bug regarding keyboard layouts not being detected correctly, now your keyboard will work as intended but this means you’ll need to go and fix some of your key binds in the menu. (Such as the Console key)

Next up, NS2 celebrates it’s fifth anniversary! We have some cool things in the pipeline, there is still much more to come.

If your client crashes, it will quickly show a dialog that automatically begins uploading your crash report and all relevant information to us. This is going to be a very helpful tool for us to diagnose issues, and it should be a simple process for you, since the only button you’ll have to press is “Restart NS2” if it occurs!

The Server’s dns address is now propagated to the clients via a server field instead the tags string allowing operators to use a longer dns address.

Dedicated Servers can now use the `-autorestart` argument (no parameters needed). If the server should crash, it will immediately restart with the previous start-up arguments. The crash will also be uploaded to our collector at the same time and not delay the server restarting.

Fixes

Fixed that the Shared.SortEntitiesByDistance method returned corrupted results at Linux causing all kind of issues and crashes. This also fixes that you couldn’t play the alien commander tutorial on Linux.

Reviews

"NS2 is a genius mash of Counter Strike and Starcraft" – Kotaku"This is getting close to my idea of the ultimate game" – Machinima

About This Game

Natural Selection 2 pits alien against human in an action-packed struggle for survival. Wield devastating weaponry as a Frontiersman marine, or become the xenomorph as a deadly Kharaa lifeform.

Strategy Meets Shooter

Natural Selection 2 is a First Person Shooter and Real Time Stategy game rolled into one! Each team, alien and human, has a Commander. The Commander looks down on the battlefield and issues orders, places structures, collects resources, researches technology, and deploys abilities.

Here are some gameplay examples: A human Commander could drop health packs and ammunition to a trapped marine squad, and deploy sentry guns to help them defend their position. Or an alien Commander could grow a new Hive to spread infestation throughout newly captured territory, allowing more alien eggs to spawn...

Two Unique Sides

Aliens players choose to evolve into one of five lifeforms: The fast, fearsome Skulk can run on walls and deliver massive damage with its jaws. Lerks fly and deploy gasses to support their teammates in battle. Gorges heal other lifeforms and build tunnels, hydra turrets, walls, and other tactical structures. Fades blink in and out of battle, picking off marines with giant scythes. Finally, the giant Onos is so massive and so tough, that even entire marine squads can't take it down.

Marines wield rifles, shotguns, grenade launchers, pistols, and other weapons. Cluster grenades can clear ventilation shafts of sneaky Skulks, flamethrowers make short work of alien structures and infestation, and boosts dropped by the Commander increase combat effectiveness.

When attacking on foot doesn't cut it, marines can construct hulking Exosuits wielding miniguns and railguns, and equip jetpacks for high speed assaults on alien Hives.

Long Term Development

Mod Tools Come Standard

Natural Selection 2 comes with all the tools we used to make the game. All game code is open source. That means you can create, and play, an endless variety of mods. Publish, share, and download mods from the Steam Workshop, and automatically download mods when you join modded games.

Digital Deluxe Edition

Digital Deluxe Edition includes:

Official Soundtrack - 1 hour of tribal, industrial music composed by David John and Simon Chylinski

Digital Art Book - 40+ pages of art by Cory Strader, including environments, creatures, weapons and more